LSJ Blogs: Derek Melot is Just Asking

Texting law is joke, but a useful one

Michigan’s new law against texting while driving sparked a spirited “discussion” in the LSJ newsroom yesterday, as I’m sure it will in countless other venues in the coming weeks and months.

My colleague, John Schneider, questioned how the police could determine when a driver was texting or engaging in some other, still legal, use of his cell phone. He deems the new law difficult, it not impossible, to enforce.

He’s right. And that’s a good thing. And, no, I don’t think people should be sending or receiving texts while operating a hurtling, 3,000-pound machine.

What is 'affordable' parking?

Exactly what is “affordable” parking rates for downtown Lansing? How many parking slots, privately owned or city-owned, are appropriate for our capital city?

I ask because I’m unclear exactly what some people in this city want regarding parking. The mayor is proposing increases in parking permits and fines. To my eye, they don’t seem unreasonable.

Councilwoman Carol Wood says she’s watching the supply of parking and its cost: “They still want affordable parking ... There isn’t enough parking in the private sector to meet the needs of the downtown area.”

Is health repeal losing momentum?

Via Matt Yglesias’ blog, I stumbled across two House bills filed to completely repeal the health-care reform legislation. They aren’t receiving the support many in mid-Michigan might expect.

In fact, of the three Republican congressmen whose districts cover part of mid-Michigan (Mike Rogers, Dave Camp and Vern Ehlers), none have signed on as a co-sponsor to HR 4903 or 4972.

MSP building stiff-arms downtown

OK, the Michigan State Police HQ is complete. People are using it. Its presence in the fabric of downtown Lansing can be fairly assessed.

It does little more than shout “Go away!” at the rest of the city.

Part-time pander

Lansing Mayor and gubernatorial candidate Virg Bernero wants to slash legislative pay.

“I can’t imagine why we continue to pay our elected representatives a full salary with lifetime health benefits for working a part-time job,” Bernero said in a campaign release. “I think most hard-working Michiganders are outraged by the fact that Michigan lawmakers work only 3 days a week and take another 10 weeks off for vacation on top of that. Part-time work deserves part-time pay and benefits.”

This is pure pandering, something Bernero has a history with. In fact, I’ve always found Bernero the office-holder far more impressive than Bernero the candidate.

Expand -- yes, expand -- the Legislature

Alaska state Rep. Peggy Wilson wants to give Alaska eight additional House members and four new senators for its Legislature.

Good idea.

Hang loose

The blogging will resume Monday April 26 and continue until morale improves.

About those city time-off payments

We published an editorial April 4 about the city’s practice of paying retiring or departing employees for their accrued time off. It can be quite a lucrative option for city workers, as numbers from City Hall illustrate.

The city was kind enough to tabulate the figures for the most recent available year: fiscal 2009 (which ended June 30, 2009). Lansing paid $800,708 to 58 departing employees for “final payouts for sick leave, vacation, compensatory time, personal leave, and pro-rated longevity ... an average of $13,805 per person.”

Lines in the wind

Those in mid-Michigan urging the Board of Water and Light to get into wind power in a big way should take a look at this story.

The key point: “While wind energy advocates are eager to explore the potential of turbines on land and water, and the potential to generate local and state jobs from the enterprise, ITC Holdings Inc. President and CEO Joe Welch said the state electrical transmission systems and regulations will first need major upgrades.

“Even with development plans from Huron County in the Thumb to Mason County in West Michigan and the extremely controversial plan to put wind turbine farms off the Lake Michigan shores of Grand Haven and Pentwater, little will be accomplished until those upgrades occur.”

Take my driving range, please

The city has partially unloaded its Sycamore Driving Range, thanks to the First Tee organization, which is expanding its mission slightly from making golf more accessible to youth to running a driving range (a practice facility, to you non-golfers).

So, rather than losing $100,00 per year operating the range — as the city did last season — Lansing will pay First Tee $45,000 to handle things. That’s better on the ol’ budget, but it’s a temporary measure, I suspect.

And as I noted in a Dec. 15, 2009, column about Sycamore: “(D)ollars spent to prop up Sycamore are park dollars the city cannot spend elsewhere.”

Consider that the $45,000 to “save” Sycamore this year is coming because the city didn’t have to spend as much on the Gier Community Center improvements as it thought it would. This is found money, not a recurring sum.

When the 2011 golf season rolls around, the city would have to draw the dollars from somewhere else. And that’s presuming the First Tee is ready and able in 2011 to renew the partnership at a stipend reasonable to city leaders.

And let’s not forget that the Bernero administration is proposing to shutter the Washington Park ice rink to save $230,000 for the 2011 budget year. The City Council, presumably, could have chosen to redirect the $45,000 in park millage money to be the seed corn for a save the ice rink effort, rather than to operate the driving range. It made a choice -- one amenity over another.

In the current climate, I don’t think the city can afford either the driving range or the ice rink. No one on the council is leading any type of effort to convince Lansing voters that the city needs more resources to protect various public amenities. And the Bernero administration is committed to avoiding any type of general tax increase.

So, that adds up to cuts here, there and everywhere.